Tuesday, 26 March 2013

My Biggest Lessons by Kirsten Ziegenhagel

Since I first stepped off the plane
in Ghana every single day has been a life lesson for me. Firstly, I have gained a greater appreciation
for my own country and a realization of how fortunate I am. Secondly, I have learned a lot about what
kind of a person I want to be and have redefined my values. Lastly, I have discovered the importance of
humility in my personal life as well as in my nursing career.

My appreciation for Canada has grown
tremendously over the last month and a half.
Before leaving Canada, I would frequently complain of trivial issues
such as the annoyance of being stuck in traffic on the Anthony Henday or that
the coffee shop was no longer selling my favourite drink. In terms of our health care system I would
complain about issues such as the staff to patient ratio and emergency wait
times. Although these are issues that
our healthcare is faced with, I can now see that other places in the world are
dealing with much bigger problems and disparities.

In Ghana, the healthcare system is
completely overwhelmed. The nurses have
to battle with decisions on who can receive care for based on the resources that
are available to them. An example would be thatif two patients were in need of a
ventilator, the hospital may only have one and the staff would have to make an
executive decision on who gets the ventilator. This is a problem that Canadians will likely
never have to face. The lack of
resources and healthcare providers is a huge problemin Ghana. The nurse to patient ratio can be as high as sixty
patients to three nurses, making it extremely difficult to provide adequate
care for all patients. These types of
healthcare issues, as well as the disparity I see while driving to the hospital
has allowed me to appreciate the resources and support we have in Canada.

Secondly, I have been able to reflect
upon myself and my own values. I feel
empowered to do more not only for the rest of the world, but for the people within
my community. I have had the opportunity
to meet some amazing Ghanaians that are making a huge difference within their
community. This past weekend, we were
fortunate to go to a small village and see firsthand how an individual in the
area was making a difference. This
person had developed his own NGO and had been actively involved in ensuring
that the children of his community could go to school. His actions have empowered
me to become more involved not only by donating money or resources when I can,
but by volunteering my time and advocating for NGO’s that I know are putting
their money and resources directly into the people they are helping. I have learned that there is a lot I can do to
make a small difference in someone’s life.

I have also been able to evaluate what is important in
my own life. I realize now more than
ever that my family is the most important aspect of my life. While nursing in Ghana, I have been able to
see just how precious life really is. People are dying needlessly from illnesses
that may have been prevented or treated in Canada, and I have seen several
individuals pass away before they should have. Seeing a one year old girl pass away opened up
my eyes to how life can slip away in a moment. I plan on spending more time with my loved
ones when I get home and really cherishing them. I plan to put aside all of the squabbles we
may have had before I left and focus on enjoying my moments with them. This has been a huge revelation for me, and I
do not think I would have been able to grasp just how precious life is without
my experiences in Ghana.

Lastly, I feel incredibly
humbled by the experiences I have had so far. Cultural humility “requires embracing the
belief that one’s own culture is not the only or best culture” (Byrd et al.,
2012). I myself did not have this belief,
however I had no idea what to expect from Ghanaian culture. I have been able to embrace it and learn a lot
about my own culture and beliefs through watching the way the Ghanaians
interact and go about with their daily activities. I have also been humbled by the disparity that
I have witnessed in Ghana. The issues that people face here are much greater
than I could ever have imagined. Their strength to continue never ceases to
amaze me, and I feel grounded by what I have seen. While walking through a
small village recently, almost all of the people lived in shacks and many
children appeared malnourished due to their swollen bellies. I had never experienced poverty like that
before, and it sickens me that I had complained so much about trivial issues at
home.

This experience has taught me that the rest of the world has so much to
offer and I can learn so much from people of other cultures. In my nursing career there is a lot of focus
surrounding “cultural awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and skills” (Chang et
al., 2012). Having this experience in
Ghana, I can now fully appreciate the necessity of being culturally competent
in my career as a nurse. I feel
extremely blessed to have been able to experience Ghana and the lessons I have
learned during my time here.